DAY TWO ; 12:50 P.M.

"You're bleeding."

He could see the blood soaking through her shirt, but she just shook her head and clamped a hand over her side. He took a step forward, and she took a step back, and for a moment he thought that she was going to fall over the side.

But she didn't. She just turned and walked away from the cliff, blood soaking through her fingers, and he followed her. "There's a difference between trying not to worry people with nothing and being stupid," he said, and she glanced back at him.

"I can deal with it."

"Bullshit. Just let me take a look at it."

She sighed and dropped her back. She pulled off her shirt and he could see that the bullet did just graze her side – for that he was grateful, because if Peko died… he wasn't quite sure what he'd do. Besides win and then kill those bastards.

"Oh," he said. "You are fine."

"I told you," she said, and he glanced up in time to see a smile come and go quicker than should be possible. He dug around in her pack – she always brought bandages everywhere, she was always prepared, and eventually he found them lodged underneath some extra food.

Also brought by Peko.

"Okay, I'll just…" he opened the bandage with his teeth, it was a large gauze bandage that was sticky around the edges, so he wouldn't have to wrap it up or anything. All he had to do was peel off the back and stick it on. A glorified band-aid.

He did so, smoothing it out over her hip and glancing up.

"Thank you," she said, and her shirt was back on faster than he could blink. She picked up her bag. "Someone could have heard her screaming. We should go."

"That makes six left, counting us," he said, and she glanced at him. He swallowed, glanced back at the cliff, and nodded. "Six. Four more to outlast."

And then she would kill herself. He knew how it would go. He wasn't happy about it, because Peko was the closest thing he'd had to a friend and somehow they were more than that, even though she denied that she was anything but his tool, his sword, his shield.

"They're all dangerous," Peko said, and Fuyuhiko knew that she'd been figuring out who was left. "Enoshima and Ikusaba. Sonia Nevermind. And Byakuya Togami."

"Enoshima's… no. No weak points," he said. He frowned. "Togami, maybe. But Ikusaba and Enoshima will be together, so Togami and Sonia on their own. So one of them… they're…"

"I can kill them all," Peko said. "It may be a bit of a fight, with Ikusaba. But I can kill them all. I have no doubt about it. I can kill them all for you. I will kill them all for you. You don't have to worry about it."

"But I am," Fuyuhiko snapped. "So just- ah, fuck. It had to be us, didn't it? You suppose Togami's family is throwing a fit right now? And what if Sonia's country, whatever the fuck it is, declares war or something? For killing their princess? Even Komaeda's dead, and I didn't think a shithead like that could ever die. Guess his luck finally wore out, huh?"

He tensed up, bit down hard on his lower lip, and glanced back to the cliff. Aoi Asahina. He hadn't paid much attention to her pre-Program. She'd always been around The Ogre. If he was being honest, he was glad Sakura Oogami was out of the game. Peko was good, Peko was really good – but Sakura Oogami on a rampage after Asahina was dead was something that Fuyuhiko thought nobody could stop.

He sighed.

"Come on," he said. "We've got to- is that a fucking banjo?"

6 STUDENTS REMAINING

Ooh, our last big event before the final three have a showdown is coming up next time. Fun times ahead. Fun, fun times. A bunch of short chapters today, but. This is why you get three at a time.